Miraculous Prompts
by LilyTheNinjaGirl
Summary: A series of oneshots based off of prompts from the readers of my other fic 'Secrets and Betrayals'. The prompts are two people, and one word. Anybody can request a prompt, but S&B readers prompts will be written first, after that it is first come, first serve. Prompt suggestions will no longer be accepted after June 30, 2016. Ratings will change based on the prompt.
1. Home

****Miraculous Prompts****

 **Description: A series of oneshots based off of prompts from the readers of my other fic 'Secrets and Betrayals'. The prompts are two people, and one word. (Example:** ** **Marinette and Adrien: IceCream. Alya and Adrien: Argument. Kim and Alix: Bet. Marinette and Chat Noir: pickles.) Anybody can request a prompt, but those who requested after reading S &B will be taken care of first. After that, it will be first come, first serve. Prompt suggestions will no longer be accepted after June 30, 2016. Ratings will change based on the prompt. ****

_Disclaimer: This disclaimer applies to every single chapter I write: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug, so all rights go to their respective owners!_

 ** **Chapter One: Home****

 ** **Prompt:**** Adrien and Gabriel: Abuse

 ** **Rating:**** T

 ** **Requested by:**** carpetes

Out of all of the things Adrien could tell you his father did, abuse him was not one of them. Until now. He could tell you that his father ignored him. His father gave him pens as gifts, forced him into a rigorous schedule, and expected him to be perfect. But abuse him? That, at least in Adrien's mind, was unimaginable.

It had all started after the events of Jackady. Adrien had arrived home, and his father had actually given him a hug. A hug! It was such a simple display of affection for many people, pure instinct, just something nice to do. Most people receive hugs often. But not Adrien Agreste. Especially not from his father.

So he had relished in the few seconds that his father had embraced him, closing his eyes and leaning in. His mind was racing. " _He does care! He really does care about me!_ " It took everything Adrien had in him to keep from crying out of joy.

A simple hug should not do that to people. Nobody should be that starved of affection, and love, and caring.

But Adrien was. And it was his father's fault. And he knew it was his father's fault, but for right now, Adrien let himself believe that maybe, _just maybe_ , his father had seen the error in his ways. Maybe they could be a family again. Maybe his father would pay him more attention.

And then his father pulled away suddenly. Adrien did not see Gabriel Agreste glance at his ring. And then the man slowly walked away. He hadn't said a word. And neither had Adrien. Words would ruin this moment for him. He just wanted to cherish it forever.

Plagg didn't make a comment as the kid flopped down on his bed, mind turning cartwheels. " _He hugged me! He hugged me! YES!_ " Instead, the cat stealthily moved over to where Adrien hid the Camembert. The kid was far too distracted to notice him.

"Plagg, can you believe it? He just walked up to me and hugged me! Does that just happen to people? Plagg, get away from the cheese!" A sheepish looking Plagg floated up to Adrien's bed.

"Well, as far as I can tell, you humans hug each other quite a bit. I don't know why. You could be embracing the loveliness of cheese instead of squeezing each other..." Plagg commented.

"He hugged me..." Adrien whispered. Plagg smiled a bit for the boy. Adrien deserved this happiness. If just for a moment.

The next day at school, Adrien was practically glowing. Nino noticed it right away, and as soon as Nino asked what was up, he excitedly explained it to his best friend. Nino was so excited for Adrien that he nearly knocked him over with a chest bump.

Alya must have heard it from Nino, and she told Marinette. So as a result, Marinette also walked around happily all day long, despite the fact that she had been late to school. If Adrien was happy, she was happy. And Adrien looked more happy than she had ever seen him.

So of course, an akuma had to attack and ruin her good mood. Kind of. She transformed into Ladybug and headed off to save the day.

Upon arriving, she discovered that today's akuma was only six years old. He had lost his school championship spelling bee when another boy had cheated. So of course, the little boy was very angry, and that was perfect for Hawkmoth's akuma.

"Hello m'lady. Fine afternoon for an akuma attack!" Chat Noir called, jumping down from a rooftop and adding a flip for flourish. He landed elegantly in front of her.

"What's got you in a good mood, chaton?" she asked as she watched the akumatized person, trying to pinpoint where the akuma was residing _before_ heading into battle.

"Ah, just something good happened to me recently," Chat said vaguely. Ladybug wouldn't appreciate him giving away any more detail than that.

"Well, glad to hear it. I think the akuma is in that medal. He must have taken it from the cheating winner. Let's go!"

Through Ladybug and Chat Noir's incredible teamwork, the akuma was purified and Paris was returned back to normal within ten minutes. After agreeing to meet up for patrol, the super heroes went their separate ways before they detransformed. Since the school day was over, Adrien headed home.

"Shoot, I am sooo late!" he said out loud. He dashed into his house. His piano teacher was standing there angrily, arms crossed and a scowl on his face. Adrien's father was standing right next to him. Adrien gulped, suddenly aware of how disheveled and unprofessional he looked right now.

"Adrien, would you like to explain your lateness?" Gabriel asked.

"This isn't the first time, either," his piano teacher muttered. Gabriel rose and eyebrow in shock and then turned his cold gaze back on Adrien.

"I'm very sorry, and I apologize for my actions. I was caught up in the akuma attack on the other side of town. Again, I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused." He stumbled over his words a bit, but tried to make it sound like a very professional and sincere apology.

"And all the other times?" Gabriel asked. He waited as Adrien fumbled around. He nearly glared at his son. Because he knew the real reason.

Every time. Every single time that there was an akuma attack, Adrien missed a fencing class, or was late to a piano practice, or he missed dinner, or he came back late to prepare for an event. After rigorous akuma attacks, Adrien was always tired and his performance suffered. After Chat Noir made progress with Ladybug, Adrien appeared happier.

Through Ladyblog clips, monitoring Adrien, and talking to Adrien's teachers and bodyguard, he had slowly pieced everything together. The ring was the final piece. The picture was complete. His son was Chat Noir. His son, who was the epitome of perfection, fought against him every single day of his life.

"And I always seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and-" Gabriel cut off his stuttering son.

"Never mind. I would like to discuss something with you in private. You are excused for the day," he told Adrien and then the piano teacher. The pianist scowled angrily and then gathered up his sheet music and made his way to the door. Adrien stood nervously under his father's glare.

"To my office, please," his father requested in a tone that made it incredibly clear that it was not a request, It was an order. Adrien gulped and fiddled with his fingers nervously. His father was pretty angry, but he had hugged him yesterday. That counted for something, right? _Right_?

"Have a seat," Gabriel instructed. Adrien sat down, setting his bag down on the floor. Plagg rubbed his head against Adrien's chest through his shirt to comfort the boy. Gabriel Agreste shut the door and locked it.

"Father, I-" Gabriel motioned with his hand for Adrien to stop, so he did. They stared at each other for a few seconds. The Gabriel's eyes narrowed.

"When were you going to tell me?" he asked coldly.

"What? When was I going to tell you what?" Adrien asked, incredibly confused. Had he skipped something else? Did he get a low test score recently? His mind quickly ran through everything he had done over the past several days. Other than missing this piano practice, he had completed his entire schedule for the past week perfectly.

Gabriel nearly snarled as he grabbed the front of Adrien shirt. "DON'T PLAY DUMB WITH ME!" he roared. "I ALREADY KNOW!"

"I honestly don't know what you're talking about, Father!" Adrien said quickly, practically terrified. His father snorted.

"Don't know what I'm talking about... You should know exactly what I'm talking about!"

"I don't!" Adrien pleaded.

Suddenly, his father lost control and slapped him across the face. Adrien brought a hand to his stinging cheek. "YOU HAVE ONE LAST CHANCE TO TELL ME YOURSELF!"

Adrien felt tears well up in his eyes. His cheek hurt like crazy. He desperately tried to think of what his father might mean. He choked over the rising tears as he answered. "I don't know! I'm sorry!"

He hadn't expected to actually be struck to the floor.

Adrien landed on his back, sprawled out across the floor. His father loomed over him. "When were you going to tell me that you're Chat Noir?" he growled.

Adrien's blood ran cold. So that was it. His father had figured him out. How had he figured it out? The first thought that went through his mind was, " _Ladybug is gonna be so pissed when I tell her my father figured out I'm Chat Noir..."_

"Well?" Gabriel hissed, grabbing the collar of Adrien's shirt.

"I c-couldn't tell anybody!" Adrien sniffled. "Or else Hawkmoth could target you! I was trying to protect you!"

Gabriel leaned back and laughed. He roared of laughter as he pushed Adrien back onto the floor. Plagg flew out of Adrien's jacket, poised in front of the boy in order to protect him and also so he could transform if need be. Gabriel didn't even look surprised to see the kwami.

"Protect me? From Hawkmoth?" Gabriel's laughter filled the room. "Why on earth would I need protection from myself?"

And then he immediately stopped laughing as he smiled cruelly. "Nooroo, wings out!"

"Noooooo!" a little voice screeched as a small purple thing was sucked into a brooch that Gabriel had hidden under his neck tie.

"Plagg, c-claws out!" Adrien stuttered. He backed up, his mind screaming at him. " _No! Hawkmoth can't be the person who has been trying to kill you and Ladybug for years! He can't be.. That would mean..._ "

His thought process was cut of as Hawkmoth lunged at him. Distracted, Chat Noir was taken down almost instantly, with Hawkmoth's hands around his throat. "After all these years, I will finally be able to take your miraculous myself! Without you, Ladybug will be easier to defeat!"

"No..." Adrien managed to choke out before the hands around his throat tightened.

"You don't have a choice, Adrien." The boy winced as his father used his real name while he was in costume. "You can go back to your life as Adrien. I'm pulling you out of that public school, too. You will stay in the house and perform your duties."

Hawkmoth left one hand on Chat Noir's throat, as the cat boy desperately clawed around. But Hawkmoth had pinned him to the floor and he was beginning to choke. Hawkmoth reached down with the other one to take the ring off. Adrien began to see stars...

And then a loud crash resounded through the air. Hawkmoth turned to see Ladybug standing there, her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Get off of him!" she hissed. That was all Adrien heard before the hands around his throat tightened and his world turned to black.

When Adrien woke up, he was outside. He could tell. He looked around and the first thing he saw was his house in flames. He tried to sit up abruptly, but a hand on his chest pushed him back down. "Don't move, chaton," a low murmur came from his right.

It was only then when he realized he was still transformed as Chat Noir. And Ladybug was kneeling next to him. She had some horrible bruises and cuts on her face, and the way she moved about gingerly indicated the rest of her body had taken some damage too.

"I defeated him," she said, answering his question before he asked it. Chat felt tears well up in his eyes. "Chat? What's wrong? You do realize that this means we can go back to our normal civilian lives, right? No more akuma, no more craziness. I mean, we can still patrol and fight regular crime, so we will still see each other, but-" She cut herself off. Rambling was Marinette's thing, not Ladybug's.

Chat just cried harder, sobbing his heart out. She leaned over and enveloped him in her arms. "Chat, you should go home," she murmured in his ear. "You're emotionally exhausted."

"Can't..." Chat managed to get out. Nearly being choked to death took a serious toll on his throat.

"What do you mean, can't?" Ladybug asked, running her fingers through his hair.

"I...can't..." Chat answered through small sniffles. "That was my home." He gestured to the burning building. Ladybug's eyes widened and she nearly fell over.

"What do you mean, that was your home?"

"Hawkmoth...is...my father...," Chat said, burying his head into her shoulder. .

He watched as she gasped. And then he could see he wheels turning in her head until finally everything clicked into place and she turned to him, her face clearly displaying her horror.

"Adrien? Oh my god... Adrien, everything will be okay!"

"I know, you're right..." he sniffled. "That was never really my home anyway." He stood up to leave. Ladybug grabbed his arm.

"Chat, where are you going?" she asked, clutching his hand in her own.

"I don't know, I'll figure something out," he murmured, preparing to leap away.

"But-"

"I need to be alone right now, Ladybug. Please."

Ladybug sighed and let go of his hand. He turned and began to leap away. "Hey Chat!" she yelled after him. He paused and turned. "Just make sure you come back, kitty. My home is your home! You deserve to have a home, and I want to share mine with you."

"But your parents..." Chat nearly choked over his own tears of gratitude.

"Won't care," Ladybug said firmly. "You need to be alone. I get that. But make sure you come home when you're okay Chat. I'll be waiting. You know where to find me." And then she zipped off into the darkness.

Chat smiled. Home. A word that had never meant anything to him. Maybe she could teach him what it meant?

That would be nice.

To have a home.

 ** **A/N: Well, I don't really know what happened there. I started out having no idea what to write, and then I got to the middle and added the actual prompt, and I have no idea where that ending came from. Oh well. Thanks for the prompt, carpetes! And thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing! Have a great day!****


	2. Coffee

**Chapter 2: Coffee Dreams**

 **Prompt:** Ladybug and Chat Noir: Coffee

 **Rating:** K

 **Requested by:** Adesteny

Marinette was tired. Really tired. No wait, tired was an understatement. Marinette Dupain-Cheng was _exhausted_! And she still had to finish her math homework and read an entire History book and write a Literature essay that was worth 10% of her grade. By tomorrow.

" _Why does the universe hate me?_ " Marinette groaned in her head as she sat in her desk chair, glancing fleetingly at her bed. It looked soooo comfortable. If only…. She unlocked her computer and switched to the open Ladyblog tab for a few seconds, scanning it to see if there was an akuma running around. "There better not be…" she muttered.

"What?" Tikki asked, flying up to the desk. The little kwami let loose a huge yawn. She was just as tired as Marinette was.

"I was saying there'd better not be an akuma out today," Marinette explained. There had already been three akuma attacks this week alone! Plus her patrols every other night. Marinette was running herself ragged.

Tikki suggested asking Chat to cover her patrol, but both of them agreed that it wasn't a good idea when Chat Noir nearly passed out from exhaustion on their last patrol. He was pushing himself even harder than she was. Through pleasant (but vague) small talk, she had also learned that he was severely punished if his grades fell. Strict parents, maybe?

Anyway, after that little episode, they had decided to patrol together. That way, if one of them did end up passing out (it was ridiculous that it had come to that) then the other one would be there. Marinette glanced at the clock. 9:37pm. She had to meet Chat in an hour and a half.

"What should I even start with?" Marinette asked herself, groaning. Tikki hovered over her.

"Start with the Lit essay. Then do the math if you have time. You can read the book in between classes and at lunch because History is the last class of the day. Maybe you'll read enough of it to fake reading the whole thing," Tikki suggested. Marinette groaned again.

10:45 came too fast. Marinette forced herself to her feet, looking at the half completed algebra equation on her paper. Shaking her head, she called "Tikki, spots on!" Transforming brought her no extra energy, because Tikki had none to give.

"This is gonna be horrible," she commented as she swung out the window. Leaping across the rooftops, every step she took, she nearly stumbled. Only the wind against her face kept her eyes open. At one point, she did actually trip and ended up sprawled across the arooftop.

" _Okay, I'm calling for intervention_ ," Tikki said inside of Marinette's head. " _You're gonna kill yourself if you patrol while you're this tired_."

"What are you gonna do? Give me an energy drink?" Ladybug groaned. Tikki giggled.

" _Kinda. You see that café down there_?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

" _I want you to go down there and buy yourself some coffee_!"

"As Ladybug? I don't have any money… And those people will freak out if a super hero comes into their shop."

" _No silly, as Marinette. I know for a fact you have a leftover ten dollar bill in your back pocket_ ," Tikki said. Marinette gasped.

"I do?" She leapt down and de-transformed. Digging around in her back pocket, she pulled out a crumpled ten dollar bill. "Booya! I'm freakin' rich!" she cheered tiredly. "How did I miss this?"

She crossed the street and entered the coffee shop, rubbing her eyes. "Hi, I would like a caramel mocha Frappuccino," she ordered. The barista nodded and went to work on her drink. Mairnette turned to wait and nearly crashed into somebody. She leapt backwards, letting out a squeak as their eyes connected.

Standing in front of her was a _very_ tired Adrien Agreste. You could see his attempts to cover the dark circles under his eyes with makeup, and his blonde hair was messier than usual. His Agreste brand clothes were all wrinkled as well.

"A-Adrien!' Marinette nearly shrieked. The boy smiled at her.

"Hey Marinette!" he greeted, before yawning. "Looks like I'm not the only one that needed a caffeine boost!"

"N-no I mean YES! I mean, yes I needed a boost of coffee- I mean caffeine…. and…um…tired…yeah…" she finished, wincing. Adrien looked at her a little strangely, but nodded nonetheless.

"Adrien?" a voice called. He looked up to see a barista holding his cup, a name scribbled across it. Adrien walked over.

"That would be me. Hey, would you mind scribbling my name over with Sharpie?" he politely requested. The barista gave him a look. She picked up her pen and scrawled the black ink across his name. Marinette was utterly confused. But whatever. If Adrien didn't like his name on a coffee cup, that was his business. Maybe they spelled his name wrong…

"See ya tomorrow, Marinette!" he called as he walked out the door!

"Yup! Tomorrow I'll see… I mean I'll see you! Tomorrow!"

"Marinette?" a barista called. She went over and accepted her cup from the girl. She frowned as she looked at her name on the cup. She couldn't let Chat see it. She'd have to pull an Adrien.

"Can you…maybe… scribble my name over...too?"

The barista gave her a 'really' look and muttered something about crazy people as she pulled out her pen again. Once Marinette's name was satisfactorily hidden, she accepted the drink and handed the lady some cash, leaving her a rather large tip even though the coffee was over-priced to begin with. The barista's face lit up and she waved at Marinette as she went to take another order.

Marinette smiled briefly before taking a sip of the warm liquid and sighing. It tasted good. Totally worth the price. She took another three gulps as she headed over into the alleyway and transformed.

Swinging across the rooftops while trying not to spill your coffee is very complicated, Marinette decided. Finally, she made it to the rooftop that she was supposed to meet Chat at. He was already there, leaning casually against a chimney and sipping some coffee.

He was drinking coffee. So what?

The cup had the name of the same shop that she had gone to sprawled across it.

Could her partner have been in that building earlier or even at the same time as she was? She didn't want to know, lest she accidentally realize who he was.

She couldn't help but run a mental image of everybody who she had noticed in the shop through her head before she could stop herself. She shook away those thoughts. Ladybug actually planned on setting down her half-full coffee cup behind a chimney and leaving it there so Chat didn't question her, but it was too late.

"Meow-velous evening, m'lady. Isn't it?" he called at her. She reluctantly stepped out of the shadows.

"Yeah, I guess. I would appreciate it much more if I wasn't so tired!" Ladybug responded. Chat eyed her coffee, his eyes widening a bit. Had his lady visited that shop too? It was on the way to this spot... She must've gone in after him... He was positive he would be able to spot her immediately if they had been in there at the same time.

"Needed some caffeine too?" he asked, knowing if he made a comment about them being in the same cafe, Ladybug might throw him off the roof. She looked a little startled for a second, but recovered her Ladybug grace almost instantly.

"Yeah, I'm dead tired. Let's just get this patrol over before I collapse!"

"Me too..." Chat agreed. "I'd much rather be asleep. Although if I had to choose this or homework, I would choose this. Even if I do get into a lot of trouble later."

"Tell me about it," Ladybug muttered. She took another sip of coffee and then took her yoyo off of her hip. Chat Noir raised an eyebrow.

"You're gonna swing across the rooftops with coffee in your hand?"

"I did it all the way here. And you must've too."

"True. Let's go."

The two super heroes made their rounds a little slower that night. They kept stopping every so often to sip their coffee. About halfway through patrol, the caffeine kicked in and they sped up a bit.

Once they were almost finished, Ladybug was about to collapse. And she was worried about Chat Noir. The poor cat boy was breathing heavily, and moving sluggishly as exhaustion kicked in. When they were a few miles from their finishing point, she actually made them stop because she was afraid he would fall over.

"Chat, you're exhausted. I mean, more so than I am. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, m'lady. No need to worry."

"Well you just missed the perfect op-purr-tunity to make a pun, so I know for a fact that you are not fine," Ladybug stated firmly.

"I did?" Chat's blank look worried her a little more.

"Yes, you did. You should have said you were 'feline' fine," Ladybug corrected. Chat shrugged. "Are you getting enough sleep, chaton?"

"I dunno. As much as I can since I stay up every night patrolling until past midnight."

"And do you got to sleep as soon as you get home?" Ladybug demanded. Chat faltered. It was only a second. A look flashed through his eyes and then it was gone.

"Of course!" Chat lied.

"You're lying," Ladybug said immediately. "Please tell me you don't stay up and do homework, Kitty!"

"You don't understand Ladybug, I have to!" Chat protested. "If I don't get perfect grades on everything he'll kill me! Or worse yet, pull me out of school!"

Chat's words were slurred now, and she could see his eyelids beginning to droop. He waved off her concerned look. "It's what coffee does to me," he explained. "Worth it for a little while, and then deadly afterwards. I always end up crashing."

The poor guy's mask couldn't hide how tired he was. His green eyes were completely dull, and he hadn't made a single pun. He didn't even flirt with her. Not once. Overwhelming instinct made her wrap her arms around him.

He hesitated for a bit, and the melted into her hug. She caressed his head and scratched behind his cat ears as he went limp in her embrace. She earned some soft purrs of pleasure.

"You're purring," she whispered, wanting to giggle a bit.

"Mmm," came the groggy response. It only took a few seconds for Ladybug to realize that Chat Noir had fallen asleep in her arms, purring softly. His coffee cup fell out of his limp hand and rolled on the ground.

Her eyes followed it as it rolled, and then stopped to perfectly display the side where the barista had written his name. _Oh mon dieu_! It was scratched over with black Sharpie!

Ladybug closed her eyes and took a deep breath, because _no it's not possible for Adrien to be Chat Noir because that completely violates every rule she has made for her life and that cannot happen_.

But the Sharpie scrawl was identical. Same place, same size, same shape. NoNoNoNoNo!

Looking down at the sleeping cat, she completely freaked out. This could be be Adrien Agreste cuddled against her! She could have kissed Adrien Agreste during the whole Dark Cupid thing. Adrien Agreste could have been flirting with her for two years!

Reluctantly, she shook him awake. "Chat! Chat, wake up!"

"Argh, five more minutes!" he groaned.

"No, chaton. I have to go NOW! Come on!" She pushed his head off of her lap. He blinked, looking slightly more alert. "Can you get home safely?" she asked. Chat nodded.

Ladybug took off across the rooftops, disappearing into the night. A sleepy grin crossed Chat's face as he watched her leave. Then he turned to pick up his empty coffee cup (and apparently hers as well, because she left it behind).

When he bent down to pick up hers, he froze. Because even though the name was scribbled over in dark Sharpie (great minds think alike), whoever had done it had done it carelessly and fast. He could clearly make out the name underneath.

Marinette.

There was no way. There was absolutely no freaking way that Marinette Dupain-Cheng was Ladybug. Chat Noir ended up having a mental battle with himself all the way home. When he finally de-transformed, he had finally convinced himself that it made sense. Way too much sense.

Fortunately, his exhausted mind left him no time to stew over it. He collapsed into his bed before changing into pajamas and fell asleep instantly.

Meanwhile, a little farther away, Marinette had also fallen asleep fully clothed in her bed. The only difference is that her parents (who had heard a noise upstairs when she had come home) went up and took her shoes and jacket off for her, wrapping her in a blanket and kissing her forehead.

#############################################################################

The next morning, Marinette woke up a few seconds before her alarm went off. Hitting snooze, she tried to re-call the dream she had last night. After a few seconds of thought, she laughed a bit to herself.

"What's so funny?" Tikki asked.

"I had a dream that Adrien was Chat Noir! Now how hilarious is that? It's literally impossible!"

Tikki chuckled along with her chosen. " _Not as impossible as you think_ ," Tikki thought.

"Well, I have fifteen minutes before I need to get ready. Let's finish this math!" Marinette said determinedly.

#############################################################################

Adrien rolled over. He felt a little stiff and sore. Realizing that he had fallen asleep in his clothes, he got up and went to go take a shower. Once he was done he went through his usual process of brushing his hair, finding the perfect designer clothes to wear, and applying the makeup to hide his exhaustion.

As he made his way over to the computer to check the Ladyblog, he remembered something. A dream he must've had last night. And in it, Marinette was Ladybug? And he had found out because of a coffee cup?

He laughed a bit at his wishful imagination, thanking his brain for providing him with entertainment while he slept. He sat down at his desk, determined to finish his essay. Maybe he should pick up some coffee on the way to school this morning.

Then again, maybe not.

 **A/N: Okay, I honestly had way too much fun writing that! Thanks for that awesome suggestion, Adesteny!**


	3. Happy Tears

****Chapter 3: Happy Tears****

 ** **Prompt**** : Marinette and Chat Noir: Crying

 ** **Rating**** : K

 ** **Suggested by:**** VocaloidWriter

It had been one heck of a long day.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng had hit snooze six times until Tikki finally took matters into her own hands, blasting Marinette's favorite Jagged Stone song into the girl's ear until she finally got up. After that, the morning rush began.

Marinette, realizing that she had three minutes before the final bell rang and she would be late no matter what she did, threw on some clothes and tossed her hair into pigtails. Then she gathered her books (praying that everything was there) and made a dash for it.

She skidded into class a good five minutes late. Thankfully, Mrs. Bustier was so used to it at that point that she didn't even say anything. So Marinette headed to her desk and started to unpack her books.

It was then that she realized she had left all of her completed homework at home. Growling in frustration, she pulled out her notebook and started taking notes. When Mrs. Bustier asked for their homework, she tried to explain.

"I left it at home accidentally! I got up late and I was in a rush! I can bring it to you right after lunch!"

"Please see me after class," the teacher requested. After class, the conversation continued.

"Marinette, not only are you late to class almost every single day now, but your grades are dropping and you seem forgetful. Do you need help with anything?" Mrs. Bustier asked kindly. She was a teacher who kept her students best interest in mind. And if something was bothering Marinette that made her school performance suffer, maybe there was something she could do to help.

"Yeah, you got a spare miraculous lying around? I could really use your help to patrol and defeat all of these akumas!" Marinette thought sarcastically.

"I'm fine, Mrs. Bustier," she answered politely. "The bakery is very busy and I've been helping my parents more often, so I'm a little tired."

"Alright. Maybe you should express your concerns to you parents. I'm sure they'd be willing to hire help so you can get a good education without falling asleep in my class!" Marinette blushed. She had done that earlier, hadn't she?

"Sure, Mrs. Bustier. I'll get that homework back to you!" Marinette grabbed her school bag and ran to meet her friends for lunch.

As luck would have it, when she skidded into the cafeteria the first person who saw her was Chloe. Chloe was in a bad mood (which was a common occurance) and Marinette was just the person to take her anger out on.

"MariTrash! Late again I see. What did you do with you homework?" Chloe called. She flipped her blonde ponytail over her shoulder. "You probably were so poor you couldn't afford food, so you ate your homework instead!"

"I live in a bakery, Chloe! We have plenty of food!" Marinette growled.

"She probably sold her homework to somebody for money! She's poor and a cheater!" Sabrina added, placing a hand on her hip. Marinette ignored them and focused on getting across the cafeteria.

"Is your jacket made out of newspaper? It looks like something off of the streets!"

"Just keep walking Marinette. Ignore her," she told herself.

"You think you're talented! I wouldn't pay five cents for anything you made! Your bowler hat was soooo tacky!"

"Almost there. Look, there's Adrien. Think about Adrien instead of Chloe. You're a good designer and you know it. You won that hat contest!"

"Is she deaf? Can't she hear us?" Sabrina asked mockingly.

"No, she just can't speak right now! She's looking at Adrien! Everybody knows Marinette has a silly crush on him. Too bad he's already mine!"

"I know right! When will she just give up on him? Isn't he taking you out to dinner tonight?" Sabrina asked.

"Of course!" Chloe cooed. She didn't need to mention that their fathers were forcing them to go together to a charity gala. "Look at this bracelet he got me!"

Marinette continues to ignore her, but she felt her blood begin to boil. Adrien was taking Chloe out? He had gotten her JEWELRY? Chloe may have been over-exaggerating, but what if she wasn't?

"You need to give up on Adrien, MariTrash! He would never like you!" To Marinette's horror, Chloe yelled the words for the whole cafeteria to hear. She froze. Everyone looked up and it got really quiet. She could feel the tears pooling in her eyes.

"Marinette?" a gentle voice asked. She looked up through her tears to see Adrien walking over. She couldn't face him right now. Not now that he knew about her crush. He was probably just here to apologize and confirm that he and Chloe were dating and apologize some more. She couldn't stand to hear that. She began to walk away, the tears coming full force.

"Marinette!" Adrien yelled after her. She took off running, tears streaming down her face. She dashed out of the school and ran to the bakery. She could hear Adrien calling after her, but she ignored him. She ran past her confused parents into the house above the bakery and into her room before she slammed the door shut. She collapsed onto her bed and began to sob.

######################################################

Adrien watched Marinette run into her family's bakery, crying her eyes out. He felt incredibly angry at Chloe. How dare she insult Marinette? His fists were shaking with anger.

What if Marinette was akumatized? The thought immediately made Adrien's eyes widen in panic. Wasting no time, he dashed behind a tree and let Plagg out of his jacket.

"No! No way are we transforming in the middle of a school day!" Plagg said, clearly annoyed.

"If Marinette gets akumatized, then we'll be transforming anyway! Prevention is better than cure!" Adrien said. His kwami just sat there stubbornly. "I'll get you some cheese bread from the bakery!"

Plagg's face lit up. "Deal!" he cheered. One short transformation later, Chat Noir was standing on Marinette's balcony.

This was not the first time Chat Noir had come to Marinette's house. Nor was it the second. Or the third. In fact, after the whole Evillustrater thing, Chat had come around once a month to visit his 'princess'. Then he started visiting twice a month. Now he came as often as once a week.

So he was quite comfortable as he rapped at the glass, and when she didn't answer, he went in uninvited. She was lying on her bed, curled up and sobbing. Chat frowned. Hawkmoth wouldn't even have to try to find her negative emotions right now.

"Princess?" he said tentatively. Marinette glanced at him and almost scowled.

"Chat? What are you doing here during school hours?"

"I heard that something rather unpleasant happened to you, and a knight must save his princess from being akumatized!" Chat said smoothly. Marinette seemed to think for a few seconds before she accepted the answer.

"I'm not going to be akumatized!" she announced stubbornly. "I just over-reacted... I'll be fine!" She brushed away a few loose tears. Chat smiled sadly.

"I don't believe mew. Want to talk about it?"

"Not really," Marinette admitted. "It's just... This girl in my school who's kinda mean. Well, really mean. She has this way of making me feel... Insignificant. Unimportant." A few more tears ran down her cheek. "And I know I should listen to her, but sometimes I can't help it, and I-I..."

Chat Noir couldn't bear to watch his princess break down and cry like this. He lunged forward and wrapped his arms around her. Marinette stiffened for a second, but then melted into his arms and sobbed into his shoulder.

"I-I'm sorry, Chat. I shouldn't be breaking down like this!" she sobbed. "I mean, how hard is my life? Not that hard.. I have awesome friends... And loving parents..."

Chat frowned a bit. Awesome friends. Loving parents. Everything he had ever wanted. Nino certainly was an awesome friend. And Alya too. And of course there was Marinette herself. But he only knew her as Chat Noir. She always avoided Adrien. She probably hated him after the gum incident. Is that why she had run away from him earlier?

The thought made him frown. So many people hated Adrien. Other teen models were jealous of him. Teen boys everywhere were jealous of him. His photographers were always annoyed with him. The Gorilla constantly scowled whenever Adrien was around. Why didn't anybody love him?

And his father had done nothing but ignore him. Adrien tried to be perfect for him! He did everything his father asked, behaved perfectly, and made himself miserable! But his father never even acknowledged him! Not even a 'good work' or a 'hello' in the morning!

Chat didn't realize that the tears soaking his leather costume were now a mixture of his and Marinette's as they hugged each other and cried. Marinette finally looked up, and she ran her finger over his face, brushing away his years.

"W-Why are you c-crying?" she asked him. He shrugged.

"Maybe it hurts me to see you cry..." he replied, sniffling.

"You and I both know that's not it, kitty. But I won't pry."

"Marinette?" She looked up at him. "Thanks."

"I should be thanking you. You're the one skipping school to comfort me..." she sighed, glancing at the clock. Chat did also, and his eyes widened a bit.

"Shoot!" he hissed. Marinette chuckled dryly.

"I'm really sorry!" she apologized. "I didn't mean to make you skip school!"

"What makes you think I wouldn't skip anyway?" he asked, his hardcore Chat leaking through again. Marinette laughed.

"I could actually see you doing that," she admitted. Chat chuckled.

"Believe it or not, I'm actually a straight A student. I get good grades, I'm hardly ever late, and I NEVER skip school without a good reason."

"You're kidding!"

"I'm entirely serious! But since we're here, no point in going back now!"

"Do you have a better idea?" she asked teasingly.

"You still owe me a video game marathon! I had to go recharge my miraculous halfway through the the first game last time we played!"

Marinette chewed on her lower lip while she thought about it. "You really want to skip school to play video games? I'll get in a lot of trouble!"

"Oh trust me, so will I," Chat agreed.

"I bet you won't be in as much trouble as I will!" Marinette said, playfully poking him in the chest. His expression faltered a bit.

"You'd be surprised," he murmured. She wasn't supposed to hear that, but she did. "Now how about those video games?"

Marinette searched his eyes for a few seconds. They were full of secrets and sorrows and starvation for attention. The silly grin on his face did nothing to keep her from seeing the mysteries in his eyes. But she couldn't solve them. Right now, the only thing she could do was cheer her kitty up.

"Alright, kitty. I give in. Let's play some video games!"

######################################################

Fifteen minutes later, Chat let out a wail as Marinette's name flashed across the screen. She pumped her fist in the air. "Booya! Marinette to the controllers! It's off the hook!" she called trimphantly. Chat Noir slumped against her desk.

"Why do you do this to me, Princess?" he groaned, dropping his controller. He looked up at Marinette with such a childish pout on his face that she couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Hahahaha... I...you... Oh god Chat... Hahaha..."

"What's so funny?" Chat demanded.

"YOUR FACE!" Marinette shrieked with laughter. "You should have seen your face when you lost again! Priceless! You looked all like this!" And then Marinette made a face that didn't look much like Chat's, but it was so weird Chat began to laugh too.

"Omigosh Princess... Haha... You're TOO cute! That face... Haha... It was-"

"Don't say it!" she giggled.

"Paw-satively hiss-terical!"

That sent both of the teens into another fit of laughter. Chat ended up doubled over on the floor while Marinette was just barely hanging onto her desk chair. They laughed until both of them had tears streaming down their faces.

Chat, still laughing, reached out and touched Marinette's face. "Purr-incess, you're crying again."

She giggled, pushing his hand away. "But these are happy tears, kitty!"

Suddenly, Marinette's bedroom door swung open with a bang. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, what on earth are you doing? You're supposed to be at scho-" Her mother froze when she saw Chat.

Chat blinked, the panic on his face evident. "Umm... Hi?"

 ** **A/N: Next prompt should be posted tomorrow morning, and it will be a sequel to this one. Also, forgive typos. I've been writing these on a phone...****


	4. The Pickle Princess

****A/N: When I used "Marinette and Chat Noir: Pickles" as a prompt example, I didn't expect TWO people to actually ask for it! But I'm glad ya'll did. This was one of the most fun things I've written! That being said, I apologize for this prompt. I just started writing and I ended up with this randomness. Lot's of "Dupain-Chengs adopting Chat Noir" fluff though...****

 ** **Chapter Four: The Pickle Princess****

 ** **Prompt**** : Marinette and Chat Noir: Pickles

 ** **Rating**** : K+

 ** **Suggested**** ****by**** : Mikalzilla and Xylia Neo

Suddenly, Marinette's bedroom door swung open with a bang. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, what on earth are you doing? You're supposed to be at scho-" Her mother froze when she saw Chat.

Chat blinked, the panic on his face evident. "Umm... Hi?"

Mrs. Cheng looked back and forth between the two teenagers, who looked like they had been caught stealing from the cookie jar. Chat's green eyes darted back and forth nervously. He took a step forward.

"Mrs. Cheng, I'd like to apologize. I was the one who distracted your daughter and kept her from going to school. You see, she was being bullied and was rather upset, so I was trying to cheer her up so she wouldn't get akumatized since it's my job as a superhe-"

"Super hero?" Sabine cut him off. "You know, had you wanted to prevent our daughter from becoming an akuma victim by cheering her up, you could have just walked through the front door."

She watched, smirking in her head, as Chat spluttered. "I-um-it was... faster?" She held up her hand for him to stop.

"Well first off, thank you for taking the wellbeing of Parisians so seriously, and secondly, I already know all about you two."

"What? Us two? What does that mean?" Marinette squeaked nervously.

"The midnight meetings that seem to become more and more frequent," Sabine explained, laughing a bit at their shocked faces. "You two aren't exactly quiet..."

"I..." Chat didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry... I-"

"We," Marinette corrected, cutting him off firmly. "We should have told you. Or if anything, I should had told you. It wasn't appropriate for me to have someone in my room at midnight, especially a boy, without telling you. Even if he's just a lonely little kitty who needed a friend." Chat blushed at the description.

Sabine contemplated her daughter's apology. She had been waiting for the right moment to confront her daughter about her 'midnight visitor', but the situation had already set itself up.

Half of Sabine wanted to be angry at both Marinette and Chat Noir. She was angry at Marinette for lying to her, for letting a strange boy (one who wore tight leather and a mask) into her bedroom at ridiculous hours. She was angry at Chat Noir for invading her daughter's privacy and interrupting her sleep, all while knowing the girl didn't have her parent's permission.

So that's why she kind of wanted to lock all of the doors and windows, give Marinette pepper spray, and keep an eye on her at all hours.

But the other half of Sabine was troubled. She knew Chat Noir. Well, she didn't really know him, but she'd been silently observing bits and pieces of his interactions with her daughter. Contrary to what the rest of Paris might believe, he was not really the suave, flirty, bold, and confident boy that fought evil with Ladybug.

She had watched him laugh, cry, and even just his normal conversation. She picked up on little things (call it motherly intuition). He really was just a lonely, lost, insecure boy looking for comfort. How he had found it in her daughter, she had no idea.

But when Chat was with Marinette, she watched him change a bit. He would come through her trapdoor looking dejected, unloved, and utterly defeated. He always left with a smile on his face and a skip in his step.

Sabine suspected that whatever Chat Noir's home situation was, it wasn't the best. And something about that made her blood boil. How could somebody not always be there to love and support their children? So she made a decision. If Chat Noir didn't have the kind of family that he deserved, she was taking over!

Sabine didn't realize that she and the two teens had been standing in awkward silence up until that point. Chat Noir cleared his throat, breaking her out of her thoughts. "Well then, I should probably get going and-"

"Hold up!" Sabine interrupted. Chat froze. "I assume neither of you ate lunch. Chat Noir, would you like to stay? My husband was going to make some hamburgers. We'd love for you to join us."

Se watched proudly as a look of disbelief crossed the boy's face, almost immediately followed by the world's largest smile as the realization that she was asking him to stay for lunch dawned on him. He looked at her, a big smile on his face and his eyes shining like it was the best day of his life.

"Really?" he asked, clearly trying not to sound too eager.

"Of course!" Sabine said. Marinette giggled a bit at Chat's face. She turned to her mother.

"But... Aren't I in trouble?" she asked quietly.

"Well, I am very disappointed in you, and they're probably will be consequences. But as long as Chat's here, he can stay for lunch. Besides," and she winked at Chat Noir, "We might as well get to know you a little better if you're going to be hanging out with my daughter so often!"

Again, Sabine wanted to burst out laughing at the looks on the teens' faces. "There will be rules, of course," she continued, "About how late and how long you'll be allowed to stay at night. But other than that, you can come over whenever you want!"

"Wow... Thank you, Mrs. Cheng!"

"Please, call me Sabine. Now come on down and help me with lunch!" Chat followed behind Sabine like a puppy, not believing how incredibly amazingly nice she was. Marinette followed after, a little dazed and very confused as to why she hasn't gotten into a load of trouble. Not that that wouldn't come later...

Sabine headed into the kitchen and explained to Tom that Marinette and Chat Noir's little midnight charade had finally been exposed, and that she had invited Chat to come over anytime. Tom agreed with her reasoning, saying that he himself had also seen how lonely and heartbroken the boy was.

So now, the bakery was closed for lunch and the entire Dupain-Cheng household, plus Chat Noir, was in the kitchen preparing a hamburger feast. Tom was manning the stove, cooking the hamburgers. Sabine prepared some vegetables for the side, and Marinette and Chat were elected to dig out the condiments.

Marinette rifled through the fridge and handed Chat stuff to set on the counter. "Mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, cheese, lettuce..." she muttered, passing everything off to him. She shut the fridge. "That should be it!"

"What about the pickles?" Chat asked. Marinette scrunched up her nose.

"I hate pickles, so we never have them in the house."

"What? That doesn't make sense! Just because you don't like pickles doesn't mean that you can't have some on hand for the rest of us!"

"Hear hear!" Tom cheered. "A pickle defender! Boy after my own heart!" He ruffled Chat's hair as he crossed the kitchen, which Chat didn't seem to mind. In fact, he seemed pleasantly shocked. He grinned.

"See! Your dad and I agree! Two against one!" Chat said, planting his hands on his hip. Tom chuckled.

"Okay boys, I think you can survive without pickles!" Sabine said.

"Great. I save Paris every day and yet nobody will get me pickles!" Chat muttered loudly. Marinette and Tom roared with laughter.

"You're hilarious!" Tom said happily.

"Don't you mean hiss-terical?" Chat corrected. Marinette and Sabine groaned in sync.

"The girls think we're pawful!" Tom said. Chat Noir nodded.

"I agree with mew. But I think we're purr-ty funny!"

Fifteen minutes later, Chat finished what he considered the best meal of his life. He had been ecstatic when Sabine had told him to pick something out of the bakery for free. The the five of them (since school was over at this point and Adrien's photo shoot had been canceled) decided to watch a movie.

"What should we watch?" Marinette asked, tossing movies at Chat to see if he could catch them. He snatched one out of the air and read the title. "Hm, the Princess Bride. I've never seen this one, but it seems perfect for you, Princess!"

Marinette gasped in mock horror. "YOU'VE NEVER SEEN THE PRINCESS BRIDE?" She shoved him into the couch and ran to put the CD in.

Throughout the entire movie, Chat began making smart comments about Marinette being as beautiful and bold as Buttercup, and how he was just as dashing and good looking as Westley. The two ignored Tom and Sabine, who were constantly snickering in the background.

Eventually, the movie ended and Chat had to leave before his transformation wore off. Sabine have him a hug and Tom offered him a high five and a box of croissants. He left happily. This was the best day of his life!

######################################################

Chat Noir re-appeared on the Dupain-Cheng's doorstep three days later, where he was invited inside warmly. After standing around and 'Chat-ting' idly (as Chat had told Tom, to more laughter), he and Marinette decided to have another video game tournament. They invited Tom to play, but he declined, because he had to man the bakery.

After seven losses, Chat was getting desperate. This couldn't be a repeat of last time! It just couldn't be! So while Marinette was distracted kicking his butt, he reached into the bag he had brought and stealthily unscrewed the lid on a pickle jar.

Smirking, he held the pickle directly under Marinette's nose.

He hadn't expected Marinette to scream and throw her remote controller across the room in shock! But he would take it! Snickering, he mashed the buttons until his name flashed across the screen in victory.

"HA! How do you like me now, Princess? I finally beat you!" Marinette scowled.

"That was cheating! That was totally cheating!" she insisted.

Chat shrugged. "You call it cheating, I call it winning!" And then he ate the pickle. Marinette picked up a pillow from the couch and flung it at him. Ten minutes later, pillows were strewn everywhere around the living room and two exhausted teenagers were passed out on the couch.

######################################################

A month later, Marinette had her sweet sixteen birthday party. She invited her entire class (except for Chloe and Sabrina) and they got together for an awesome party at her house. After stuffing themselves full of cake, the teens gathered around Marinette to watch her open her gifts.

She smiled as she thanked Nathaneal for the new sketchbook for her designs, hugged Alix, Juleka, Rose, and Mylene, who had worked together to get her some new fabrics, squealed when she got a new sewing kit from Max, Kim, and Ivan, grinned excitedly as she received the latest Jagged Stone album from Nino, nearly cried when Alya gave her a very personal gift, and was so excited to receive an Agreste brand jacket from Adrien that she forgot her shyness and tackled him in a hug.

They were about to retire and play a game of Truth or Dare, but Alya found one more gift at the bottom of a mountain of tissue paper. "Hey Marinette! There's one more.."

Marinette scratched her head. "What? Who could that be from?" She accepted the pink box anyway and looked at the delicate handwriting on the tag. It read 'Princess' in fancy, swirly letters. Marinette's face heated up.

"Well, open it!" Alix announced. Marinette opened the lid of the box and nearly burst out laughing. Inside sat a small jar of pickles. She lifted it out, still laughing. Everyone else looked confused.

"Pickles? Is that like a practical joke? Who's it from?" Alya asked. Marinette shrugged.

"I don't know," she lied. Her parents stood in the background, smirking because they knew exactly who it was from. "Does anybody want these? I don't really like pickles..."

To her surprise, Adrien accepted the pickles with a quiet "Thanks!" As she handed them to him, something in the bottom of the box caught her eye. It was a necklace on a golden chain. Dangling from the chain was a small, green pickle charm, along with a golden tag with 'Princess' etched into it. Marinette grinned.

As everyone else got into a circle, she put on the necklace. She smiled as she looked at it. That silly kitten... She joined the Truth or Dare circle and was mercilessly interrogated by Alya about her secret gift giver. She gave away more than she wanted to.

######################################################

Fifteen years later, Hawkmoth had long since been defeated. Their identities had been revealed. Adrien and Marinette dated for several years before heading off to their respective colleges, where they FaceTimed almost every day.

They had been back together working for the Agreste company for three years now, and tonight was the big night. Tonight was the night that Adrien decided to get down on one knee.

He offered her a pickle. She refused. Marinette's hatred for pickles never left her. So Adrien offered her a ring instead. She hadn't really been surprised, but she had cried as she hugged him and said yes. Happy tears, she had reminded him.

######################################################

A year later, nobody questioned why there was a pickle on top of the wedding cake. Nobody really knew where or when the whole pickle thing started, but nobody really cared. And after smearing cake on each other's faces, Marinette and Adrien split the pickle.

" _Maybe pickles aren't so bad after all_ ," Marinette thought to herself.

 ** **A/N: I'm out of town for the weekend, so this won't be updated until after I get back on Sunday or maybe Monday. Plus I'll be busy typing Secrets and Betrayals... The next prompt should be more about the previously mentioned game of Truth and Dare. Until then, thanks for reading and reviewing! Have a great day! #FeedTheAuthorKwami****


	5. Revenge

**A/N: This is an interesting chapter that** is probably a complete waste of your time. I would recommend skipping it, even. Basically, my best friend (LandraWolf) is writing a Zootopa fic, and in it she has a character named Alay who dates Nick for a bit just so we have some nice tension in between Nick and Judy. Everyone else reading that fic hates Alay, but I actually like and her and I'm totally a Nalay shipper. So in revenge for my constant whining about it, LandraWolf gave me an evil prompt. So I wrote it.

It's basically a random beginning and then the ending is stuffed full of inside jokes. So yeah... I'll probably be posting several more prompts to make up for this one. Don't read it if you don't want to. Half of this will make almost no sense if you are not me, LandraWolf, or MagicJacket. If you do read it for some crazy reason, I hope you enjoy it I guess...

Chapter 5: Revenge

Prompt: Adrien and Alya: Date

Rating: T

Suggested by: LandraWolf

Warning: ZOOTOPIA SPOILERS! OOC, not proof read, confusing and random as hell, as long as a usual prompt (maybe a bit shorter) and with no real ending or good plot. You've been warned.

It was a day just like any other. For the time being, of course. None of the innocent Parisians could have possibly guessed what was going to take place later that day. Of course, the events that unfolded are totally true. Because I took part in them. And I'm writing them.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng woke up late, as usual. She rushed to class, sliding into her seat five minutes after the bell rang, as usual. At lunchtime, she made up a half-baked excuse for why she had slept in for Alya, as usual. She stuttered when Adrien Agreste said hello, and then nearly tripped while getting to her table, as usual.

But for once, just this once, Alya was tired of playing wingwoman for somebody who constantly refused to make a move. It was like paying for a skydiving trip for somebody, only to have them refuse to jump. She was getting a little tired of Marinette's inability to act like a normal human around the blonde model.

Not that Alya would ever get frustrated or angry with her best friend. It was just... moving so slowly for her! She knew that Marinette and Adrien were meant together, she just knew it! But getting there was taking forever! Alya Cesaire was not a very patient person.

So here she was, standing by her locker, once again coaching the nervous bluenette. "Girl, you can do this!" she encouraged. Marinette groaned.

"I can't Alya! I can't speak a coherent sentence around him! How could I ask him on a date? What if he says no? What would I do then?" she groaned.

"Well then at least you'd know!" Alya replied.

"I'd rather die than have him turn me down! It's safer not to confess, especially if I'll end up looking like an absolute idiot!" Marinette squeaked, watching Adrien from across the locker room. Alya facepalmed.

"It's not that hard, Mari!" she insisted. "When he comes over, just say 'Adrien, would you like to go out with me?'" Alya spun around for flourish and she nearly ran into someone. Glancing up, her heart stopped. Standing there very awkwardly was Adrien Agreste.

"What? You want to go out?" he asked, staring at her. Alya had never even been remotely interested in him! At least, he didn't think so. Besides, he could never go out on a date with Alya. She was an awesome friend, but he wasn't interested in her. And he loved Ladybug.

Meanwhile, Alya scrambled to save her best friend's heart and her own dignity. "I MEANT AS FRIENDS!" she nearly yelled. "Not like a date or anything, just a lunch hangout or something. You're, um, always hanging out with Nino! I've never really talked to you much... Um..."

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. A friend lunch hangout? Alone? Was that something people did? He didn't really know much about making and having friends, so he was probably just overthinking it. It would just be like a hangout with Alya. Yeah, that's it. Actually, it sounded like fun! And it made Adrien feel very happy that she wanted to hang out with him outside of school and without Nino. She must consider him a good friend!

"Sure," he agreed. "Have lunch and hang out? Sounds good... There's a little restaurant across the way with awesome tacos and stuff." He didn't notice the choking sound that Marinette made and Alya's sympathetic glance.

"I'll meet you over there in ten minutes!" Alya said, before grabbing Marinette's arm and dragging her across the locker room. Adrien turned back to Nino to ask him what the hell just happened and didn't notice how red-faced Marinette was or how quickly Alya was retreating.

"What was that?" Marinette said angrily, shoving Alya off of her.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know he was standing right there! What else was I supposed to say? At least now he doesn't think it's an actual date or something... I'll make sure I talk a lot about you!" Alya offered. Marinette sighed.

"I know you didn't mean for that to happen. Go have fun, I guess. Imagine having lunch with Adrien!" The girl sighed dreamily. Alya shook her head.

"I'll see you after lunch break. DON'T be late!"

The girls parted ways and Alya made her way over to the small Mexican restaurant across the street from the school. She saw Adrien sitting at a two person table, snacking on some chips. She sat down next to him. "Hey."

"Hey."

They sat in awkward silence for a few minutes. Alya was desperately trying to think of something to say. She glanced over Adrien's head and noticed a movie theater. That reminded her of a movie that she had watched several days ago with Marinette.

"Have you seen Zootopia?" she asked casually. Adrien looked up. To her surprise, he smiled.

"Yeah, I have. I liked it a lot. How about you?"

"Yeah, I watched it. Did you see that blueberry trick coming?" she asked. "I was totally shocked, which is weird because I can usually guess the endings to movies."

"I know right! I totally didn't see it coming! I kinda wanted Nick to get infected though! How angsty would that have been? I wish it had happened..." Adrien sighed. "I loved the entire movie. It was so cool, the way Nick got out of his stereotype..."

"I'm honestly not as obsessed as Marinette, but I still love it!" Alya said. "I've been scrolling through fanfictions about it for awhile now. The movie kinda left us on a cliffhanger... Do they fall in love? Get married? Have kids?"

"I don't know, although I used to ship Nick and Judy together, but I found a new OTP," Adrien said excitedly. Alya rolled her eyes.

"I actually have a different OTP too. I mean, Judy and Nick? What would the ship name even be? Jick? Nudy?"

"Those both sound ridiculous!" Adrien agreed. "So, I found this fanfiction. It was one of the best Zootopia fics I've ever read. It is 'Say Something I'm Giving Up On You' by-"

"LandraWolf?" Alya interrupted him. "I love that fic! Wait, don't tell me. You're a Nalay shipper!"

"Heck yeah! Alay is like, so awesome! She's totally badass and she knows her stuff. Plus, she and Nick have a real relationship, unlike Judy and Nick. They're awesome together. Plus, they're both foxes. So it's not as weird."

Suddenly, the person at the table next to them leaned over. "Oh my gosh, ya'll are Nalay shippers too?" she asked excitedly. Adrien and Alya nodded. "Thank goodness! Everyone else HATES Nalay. Alay is such a cool character. Too bad she's just LandraWolf's OC, so nobody else can use her in fics without permission. Plus, Landra is a harcore Jick shipper. So I know our Nalay dreams will never come true..."

"Yeah. And I'm okay with Jick, I just kinda like Nalay," Alya agreed. "Plus, Alay is basically Alya if you flip a few letters around. Who are you by the way?"

"I'm Lily. And I have a plan to get the Nalay ship to sail! I hacked LandraWolf's account so I could post a new chapter of her story that I wrote. It's a bunch of Nalay fluff."

"YES! Let's do it now!" Adrien agreed. Lily pulled a computer out of her bag (after stuffing what looked like a knife back into it) and uploaded the chapter. She hit post.

"Done!" She announced triumphantly. Almost immediately, a wail sounded across the whole city.

"LIIIIIIIIIILLLLYYYYYYYY!"

Suddenly, a new akuma came thundering down the streets. It was a large white wolf with glowing golden eyes. It was almost as big as a building, and it was angry. It snarled at Lily, Adrien, and Alya.

"Well crap," Lily commented. "I did not see that one coming!" She didn't notice Adrien slip away.

"I AM AUTHORESS!" The wolf boomed. "I WILL CONTROL EVERY AUTHOR'S WRITING! NO SHIP WILL SAIL WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!"

Alya pulled out her phone and started video-taping. "Hey, LandraWolf!" she called. The wolf snarled at her.

"IT'S AUTHORESS!"

"Yeah yeah, whatevs. Anyway, what's it like to be an akumatized villain?" Suddenly, the wolf squinted its eyes.

"Wait a second, aren't you... Alya? Aren't you from that little kid cartoon that Lily is obsessed with and writes about ALL the time? Wait..." The wolf looked around. "This is Paris! And that is Chat Noir!" She dodged a silver baton. "MUHUHUHAHAHA! I WILL MAKE IT SO THAT LILY'S OPT WILL NEVER BECOME A REALITY!"

Suddenly, a giant computer appeared in front of Authoress. She sat and down and used her wolf paws (that looked awfully cumbersome) to type out a small story. Ladybug came swinging into view, trying to stop her, but it was too late.

"Chat Noir confesses to Ladybug," the story read. "And Ladybug turns him down. Chat Noir is heartbroken, and he turns back into Adrien in a desperate attempt to keep his lady from leaving. She suddenly says that she loves him, and she de-transforms into Marinette. But then Adrien laughs and says that he could never love Marinette and that he was very disapointed she was Ladybug. Marinette sees that Adrien is really her annoying Chat Noir, so she loses interest in him and both walk away heartbroken."

"Perfect!" Authoress announced, clapping her paws together. She smiled in satisfaction as she watched everything that she had typed come to life.

Chat Noir was grabbing Ladybug's hand, telling her something. She shrugged him off. A flash of green light spread through the air. Ladybug looked shocked. She began to stutter to him. There was a flash of pink light. Adrien looked shocked. He looked angry. He laughed at her, began to walk away. Marinette scowled and walked in the other direction.

"NOOOO! NOT MY OTP! ATTACK!" Lily screamed as she galloped in on a brown horse. She launched herself at LandraWolf, who snarled. The two fought mercilessly. Landra batted Lily away and lung her into a wall. Lily through a katana into Landra's neck, causing it to bleed heavily. "I need reinforcements," Lily thought. "That thing is huge!"

Suddenly, a huge boy (maybe about 45 tons) fell on top of LandraWolf, pinning her down. Landra swatted the boy off of her. He rolled away, lifeless.

"NOBODY TAKES BAE!" Another voice screamed as a red haired assassin jumped off of a rooftop.

"MagicJacket!" Lily cried in relief. MagicJacket placed her hands on her hips.

"What on earth are you two fighting over this time?"

"Our OTP's!" LandraWolf growled. "She ruined my fic without asking with all of her stupid Nalay stuff!"

"Yeah, well she's ruining the entire frickin' Miraculous Ladybug universe!" Lily complained. MagicJacket shook her head.

"Landra, just delete the chapter, change your password, and go kill Alay or something in your fic. You're such a delinquent. Breaking all the rules. First, it was eating a cookie without a bowl. Then it was going inside wet. Then it was trying to walk inside with your shoes. Then it was not shutting the door! Then it was actually walking inside with your shoes. Then you stole a cookie!"

"Lily, take whatever the akumatized object is. Break it and give it to Ladybug. Then leave LandraWolf alone and type your own fic instead of working on this crappy prompt. Agreed?"

"Fine. But it was still YOUR idea to bring all of those balloons upstairs ONE BY ONE! There were 72 of them! And three of us!"

"I don't go around ruining other people's fics!" MagicJacket insisted. "Now fix this mess!"

So Authoress handed over her akumatized object (a picture of Nick and Alay together that Lily drew) and Lily broke it and gave it back to Ladybug, who fixed it even though she was angry with Chat Noir. After she used Miraculous Cleanse, she forgot about the entire akuma attack affair and who Chat Noir was. Much to Lily's disappointment, and the disappointment of the rest of the fandom.

Then Lily proceeded to try and bribe LandraWolf into writing a crossover oneshot of Zootopia and Miraculous Ladybug for no reason at all. We'll see in the reviews if she agreed. And then Lily, Landra, and MagicJacket left the Miraculous Ladybug universe. How they even got there in the first place, well, that's a oneshot for another day.

A/N: Well that was crap... Sorry.

If you like Zootopia, go check out Say Something I'm Giving Up On You by LandraWolf. Also, if you're really bored you should send her a random message explaining basic household rules that you have (like not walking inside with shoes, no stealing cookies, don't leave a dirty knife on the table, shut the door behind you, etc.) Lol Landra is probably reading this and going, "What? Argh..." Love ya, Landra ;)

Maybe I'll post another couple prompts soon to make up for that. Thanks for reading and reviewing! (And if you actually read this and you are angry with me for wasting your time, I warned you). Have a great day!


	6. Nightmares

A/N: I apologize in advance for my dark and merciless heart. I think I need serious help. Please forgive me.

Chapter 6: Nightmares

Prompt: Ladybug and Chat Noir: Death

Rating: T

Suggested by: Static Archer

Warning: Blood, death, potential triggers, and everything along those lines. Also, have a box of tissues ready. Oh, and for those who are worried, there is NO major character death. At least, not REAL major character death...

Adrien didn't know when the nightmares started.

It had been an eventful week for him. Four akuma attacks, a TON of photoshoots, a fencing tournament, a big charity gala, a huge school project, and regular patrols with Ladybug. Adrien was quickly becoming absolutely exhausted. He stumbled around at school, barely able to concentrate. He yawned more than he smiled at his photoshoots. And he looked more like a zombie than Gabriel Agreste's model son at the charity gala.

He knew it wouldn't be too long before he broke, but he kept pushing anyway. He couldn't stop doing anything he did in his life as Adrien, so the only option was to cut back on his activities as Chat Noir. But he couldn't leave his lady alone during akuma attacks, so the only other option was to drop a few patrols.

Adrien knew Ladybg would be more than happy to take over some of his patrols if he explained how run down he was feeling. He knew that she would be very concerned, and she would probably send him home to sleep with a kind, "Hope you're feeling better soon!"

But he couldn't stop himself. Every time he saw Ladybug, it put the spring back into his step. Every time he heard her laugh, it made his life worth living. Without her, he wouldn't be able to handle his normal life at all. So Adrien decided the best course of action was to muddle through it, drink a LOT of coffee, get notes from Nino, and use a lot of makeup to conceal the dark circles under his eyes. It worked for another two weeks.

Then the nightmares started.

He had gone to bed absolutely exhausted. After his patrol, he stayed up until three in the morning to finish his huge Literature essay. Once it was completed to perfection (his father would stand for nothing less, and it was a big part of his grade) he barely managed to change into his pajamas and collapse upon his bed, a purring Plagg next to him. Sleep captured him almost immediately. It was relentless.

Chat Noir glanced around. It was misty and unreal. Part of his subconscious knew that he was dreaming, but it all felt so real. He took a few steps backward, glancing around nervously. There was a smell in the air. It was dark and unsettling, but Chat couldn't put his finger on what it was.

His ears twitched as he heard a noise behind him. His vision began to blur as the mist rippled until he was aware that he was standing in an alleyway somewhere in Paris. Behind him, a weak voice cried out.

"Chat!"

He spun around, and saw a figure lying on the ground. It was Ladybug. Excpet that it wasn't. The girl looked exactly like Ladybug, except her red suit had no black spots. Chat pulled his baton off of his back, walking over slowly in case it was an akuma. As he saw her better, he reeled back and fought the urge to throw up.

It was Ladybug, alright. But her black spots were glossed over. With her blood. Her suit was torn in so many places that everything bled together, covering her in a sickening brilliant red color. Chat ran to her and fell onto his knees.

"LADYBUG!" he yelled, cradling her bloody head in his arms, running his hands through her hair, which was loose from its pigtails.

"Cha...ton..." Ladybug murmured. "Keep...Paris...safe...for me..."

Chat's eyes widened as he realized what she meant.

"No Ladybug, no! You'll get through this! You always do! I'll take you to a hospital and-"

"No...use..." she croaked. "Can't...make...it... Glad... you're...here...with...me..."

Chat began to sob uselessy, the tears running down his face and onto hers. "Don't leave me," he whispered. "Please, don't leave me. I love you Ladybug. I've always loved you. You can't leave me alone."

"Love...you...too..." Ladybug managed to get out. Then her head dropped and her eyelids fluttered shut. Chat frantically checked for a pulse, any sign that she was still with him. Nothing.

"No!" he screamed into the chilly night air. "NOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Adrien!" Plagg shouted into his ear. Adrien bolted upright, breathing heavily and soaked with sweat. His wild eyes scanned the room, taking it all in. He was safe. Ladybug was not dead in his arms. Everything was okay. His breathing slowed. "Are you okay?"

He looked down to see Plagg's little face in a worried expression, which was a rare sight unless they ran out of Camembert. "I'll be fine. I just had a nightmare, that's all."

Adrien lay back down, trying to let the sleep reclaim him. It wouldn't. The image of Ladybug dying in his arms was permanently ingrained in his mind. The sickening stench of her blood seemed to invade his nostrils. He tossed and turned for the rest of the night, until it was morning and he forced himself to get up.

The rest of the day was a nightmare a well. Nino had a dentist appointment, and Adrien was forced to take notes for both of them during the morning classes. His father snapped at him for being lazy at his photoshoot, and the cook had made some horrible excuse for a tasty dinner. Not to mention that the amount of homework he had to do was unbearable.

His patrol with Ladybug made his day a little better. He couldn't help but glance over at her every few seconds, just to make sure she really was alive and well. If she noticed his lack of puns and worried glances, she didn't let on. He returned home and dove into his bed without even changing. Plagg for once didn't complain about his cheese, but went to get it himself.

And then Adrien had the next nightmare.

They were falling, falling, falling. The wind slapped at his face and blew his hair out of his eyes. Tears from the wind filled his eyes, making everything blurry. He was aware of Ladybug calling to him to elongate his baton and save them.

Whipping it off his back, he shoved it into a building and securely held it in one hand as the other reached for Ladybug. For a half of a second, he thought that he would make it. Her hand outstretched and their fingertips brushed slightly.

But then he jerked to a halt, his baton breaking his fall. He screamed her name as he hung there. "LADYBUG!"

She hit the ground with a sickening crunch and then lay there, unmoving. He released his baton and ran over to her, not caring how many horrified civilians he had to knock over. He skidded to her side. "Ladybug? Ladybug say something? SOMEBODY CALL AN AMBULANCE!"

People around them started to whip out their phones and dial the emergency number. Ladybug opened her eyes and reached up slowly, cupping his face in her hands and wiping away his tears. Then her hand dropped.

"Why?" she whispered, her voice cracking. "You said you'd always be there to catch me. Why didn't you?"

"I tried, Ladybug! I didn't mean to let you fall!" he wailed. "I'm sorry! Just hold on! Wait for an ambulance! It's coming!"

Ladybug chuckled softly. "Minou, there's nothing to hold onto. Your hand slipped my grasp. Goodbye..."

Her breath hitched and then her chest stopped moving. Everything was a blur. Chat Noir was aware of Alya sobbing behind him, and civilains yelling. He heard the sound of the ambulance, coming far too late to save her. But it was all in the background. Her broken body lying before him was the only thing he was aware of.

Again, Adrien woke up gasping. His bedsheets were all twisted up and he was soaked with sweat. Dragging himself to the bathroom, he turned on the cold water in the shower and stepped into it, hoping to drown every memory of the dream. No such luck.

He could hear his alarm clock blaring in the background. Great. Another nearly sleepless night. That would probably equal another horrible day. It did. He failed his pop quiz and his teacher requested a conference with his father, who was less than pleased and threatened to pull him out of school. His piano instructor actually started yelling at him because he couldn't focus a bit. All in all, it was a basically a real life nightmare.

Of course, there had to be an akuma attack. He was so out of it that Ladybug actually had to scold him several times for not paying attention. He profusely apologized and waved off her concerns when she asked if everything was okay. Nothing was okay. Because he still had the image of his last nightmare fresh in his mind.

"I'd do anything to get it out of my head," he told an increasingly concerned Plagg before going to bed. His mind was happy to agree by replacing it with another.

This time, they were battling an akuma. It went as it always did. He and Ladybug fought in perfect harmony. They were gaining the upper hand. Ladybug called for her Lucky Charm, preparing to finish it. She didn't notice the dagger being flung in her direction until it was too late.

She screamed as it plunged into her heart. She staggered backwards, dropping to the ground as Chat slammed the akuma to the ground and raced over. "LADYBUG!" He would never get the haunting echo of his own scream out of his mind, The same thing every time. Her name.

Ladybug glared up at him, her hands clutching her chest as she pulled the silver blade out. "WHY WEREN'T YOU THERE TO PROTECT ME?" she screamed at him. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TAKE THE HIT?"

"I couldn't get there in time," he whimpered. "It's all my fault. I'm supposed to take the hits for you."

"SOME PARTNER YOU ARE!" she yelled again before she let death claim her. Chat turned and ran, because he didn't want to let another image invade his mind. But it was too late.

Her words rang through his head over and over again. He ran faster, hurling himself over objects as the tears blinded him. Eventually, he tripped and landed on the ground with a hard THUD!

THUD! Adrien jerked awake as his body slammed on the ground. He looked up, the tears still fresh in his mind. He was on his cold bedroom floor. Plag hovered over him. "You're not okay, kid. We need to do something to stop this."

Adrien and Plagg spent the rest of the night Google searching ways to prevent nightmares. Nothing useful ever came up. His alarm clock went off again and he rose for another day of utter hell. Plagg watched him, extremely worried. He knew Adrien would refuse to talk to Ladybug about this, but it was the best (and only) thing he could do at this point.

That night, Adrien vowed to stay awake. But as he sat in his desk chair, scrolling through tumblr, his eyelids began to droop and he couldn't help but let the exhaustion claim him one last time.

This time, he made a mistake. He miscalculated his blow, and it left him open to the akuma's attack. The akuma took full advantage of it, sending Chat backwards into a wall and wrapping it's arms around his throat. The akuma began to choke him.

"Lady...bug.." Chat managed to get out as the hands tightened around his neck and he fought for breath. She watched from a few feet away.

"You really are worthless, Chat Noir," she said calmly. "Who could possibly make a mistake that stupid? Maybe after you die I'll get a better partner."

Chat went limp, his vision beginning to darken as his body made its final attempts to fight for oxygen. He could hear Ladybug laughing in the background as everything faded to black.

He awoke suddenly, jumping up and throwing his hands around his neck. He sighed in relief. He could breath. Adrien glanced around his room. Daylight already. "Never again," he promised himself. "I'm never going through that again."

And he didn't. He refused to sleep. He wasted his nights drowning soda can after soda can, scrolling the nights away on his computer. He refused to sicomb to the will of his nightmares. His façade slowly crumbled, and with it, his life.

Nino finally got frustrated when his best friend wouldn't tell him what was wrong, and they got into a huge argument. Alya and Marinette were constantly whispering behind his back. His school performance failed miserably and here wasn't a single photo worth using from his extensive amounts of photoshoots.

Finally, Adrien's father put his foot down. He informed his son that he would no longer attend public school. Adrien ran out of the office, unable to keep the tears at bay. Life was slowly killing him, and he kind of wanted to die. He didn't know what to do, so he did what he always used to do when he sought comfort.

"Plagg, claws out!" he screamed. Plagg didn't even have time to argue. Chat Noir leapt into the darkness of the night, running as fast and as far away as possible. His heart was pounding and his chest heaved. His body begged him to stop. Not to mention that he couldn't see properly and his mind refused to function.

It wasn't long before his body gave out. He collapsed from exhaustion, his head hitting a chimney as he went down. He was unconscious within seconds, curled up and sick on the rooftop. The dark clouds that had been brewing in the distance rumbled angrily.

It began to rain, soaking him completely. But he was unaware, happily lost in the realm of unconsciousness, free from the nightmares. His black suit blended perfectly in the darkness. There was a very slim chance anyone would find him here. By the time they did, it would be far too late. His body couldn't take it anymore. His life began to slowly slip away.

############################################################################################################################################################

Ladybug had been waiting at their usual meeting place for a half hour when she began to panic. Chat had been acting extremely weird lately, and she was worried to death. His movements were sluggish, and he had zero concentration. He nearly collapsed on their last several patrols. His mask did nothing to hide his tired eyes. The bright spark that she had always loved wasn't there anymore. His green eyes were completely dull.

He had waved off her concerns, so she let it slide. For awhile. Then she began insisting that he take a break from patrols. She threatened, yelled, kindly explained. Nothing helped. He showed up anyway. Tonight, she had planned on tying him up on the freaking rooftop if he didn't listen. There was no way she was going to let this continue.

So when he didn't show up, she was confused at first. Maybe he had actually listened to her and stayed home after last night's argument. But a little voice in the back of her brain told her that it was something more. Something had happened.

Eventually Ladybug took off across the rooftops, heading in the direction that he normally came from when they met. She kept in a straight line, knowing the chances of finding anything were slim. He could live anywhere. And he might just be at home. She was wasting her time...

She cursed as it began to rain. She didn't have night vision, and the rain lowered her visibility even more. Now the chances of her finding him were almost zero. But of course, she wasn't lady luck for no reason.

She almost missed it. The bright gold flash of his bell in the corner of her eyes alerted her. She dropped down onto the rooftop and gasped. She ran to her partner's side, cradling his soaked head in her lap. He was shaking, and when she checked for a pulse she could barely find it.

"Chat?" she said, shaking him a bit. He didn't wake up. "Chat Noir!" She became more forceful, but nothing helped. "Oh god, you need help!"

She couldn't take him to a hospital. His transformation might wear off. Sure, his ring was still full of paw pads, but she didn't want to take any chances. Besides, if it came down to her knowing his identity or a full hospital staff and possibly all of Paris knowing his identity, it was pretty obvious what the better choice was.

Ladybug gathered her partner up in her arms, both surprised and worried to find how light he actually was. Carrying the unconscious boy bridal style, she made her way to the only place she could think of: her house.

When she arrived, she slipped through the trapdoor and placed him on her chaise, not caring of he got it soaking wet. She ran to the bathroom and grabbed some towels. Her parents, both very heavy sleepers, had already gone to bed. So there was no risk of them waking up again until morning.

She threw some blankets on him and began toweling his hair. While she worked, Tikki used her magic to instantly dry her Ladybug suit. Apparently, Chat's kwami could do the exact same, because when she pulled the blankets off, Chat's suit was dry too.

Ladybug (not daring to drop her transformation lest he wake up) cocooned him in blankets and carried him over to her bed, where she pulled up the covers. At least know he was warm, and a bit of color was beginning to return to his cheeks.

She cleaned up her mess before she sat down anxiously to wait for him to wake up. The clock ticked and tocked back and forth for three hours. Finally, she heard a low groan. Flipping the lights on, she knelt by his side as he stirred.

"Chat?" she asked. He blinked a few times.

"M'lady," he murmured sleepily. "What happened?"

"I don't know!" she exclaimed, hugging him tightly. He melted into her embrace and began to purr. "I found you unconscious on a rooftop in the pouring rain. Whatever has happened to you lately Chat, it needs to stop. You nearly died!"

"I-What?" he asked. She hugged him a little tighter, letting a stray tear run down her cheek.

"I don't know what I would have done if I had lost you," she whispered. "What's wrong, kitten? Please tell me. I can see that you're miserable. I want to help you."

He froze, but calmed down when she started petting his head, running her fingers through his hair and scratching behind his cat ears. "I've been having nightmares," he confessed.

"What about?" Ladybug asked.

"You dying," Chat sighed. "Every time it was different. I couldn't do anything about it the first time, and then I couldn't keep my promise to you, and then I couldn't make it in time..." He choked up, finally letting the tears fall.

Ladybug didn't say anything. She just held him as sobs wracked his body. He was shaking and crying and squeezing her like she would disappear.

"Why didn't you tell me, Chat?" she asked.

"I was afraid," he admitted. "Afraid you would think I was weak and silly. One of my nightmares... I was the one who died... and you... you let it happen..."

Ladybug gasped, withdrawing her hand from his head to cover her mouth. "Chat I would NEVER think that less of you, and I would NEVER, EVER let you die. I can't believe you would think that! You're my partner Chat Noir! I lo-" she stopped short.

"I know, but the nightmares were so convincing," Chat whispered. "They played into my insecurities as a person, I guess. I can never be good enough. Everyone I love has ended up dying. Everyone who loved me is dead..."

"I love you," Ladybug said firmly, her mind made up. "I love you, and I'm never going to die on you and leave you alone. I don't know who you are, or who makes you feel like this, but I know you. You're brave and extremely loyal. You're funny and clever. You may have insecurities, but so do I. So does everyone. We're human. We're supposed to make mistakes. You're perfect just the way you are."

She was crying with him now. She couldn't believe he thought that he wasn't good enough for her, or for anyone! It made her blood boil to think that somebody had treated her kitten so horribly that he began to doubt his self worth. He didn't respond, he just kept holding her tightly.

"You can go to sleep now, chaton," she told him. "I won't let the nightmares hurt you anymore."

"But-"

"Shhh," she said soothingly. "I'll be here when you wake up. I don't care who you are behind that mask. We've been living behind our masks too long. I love you, and I'm going to make sure nobody ever hurts you again. Because you're special to me. You're a special person. And you deserve lots of love."

"Your parents..."

"Will understand. They know I'm Ladybug. But they think I don't know. I've avoided the conversation so far. They'll accept you. Our home is your home. And you deserve a home."

"Ladybug?" She looked down into his tear filled green eyes. "Thank you. For everything."

"You don't have to thank me for anything, kitten. Just go to sleep. I'm right here."

Chat nodded and curled up around her. His breathing became soft and rhythmic as he finally welcomed the sleep instead of avoiding it. He slept better than he ever had before that night, and the promise of tomorrow filled his spirit with joy. No nightmares came to assault him.

In fact, he never had a nightmare again.

A/N: I could never kill my babies, but I did write Ladybug dying three times and I was even evil enough to kill my kitten. *sobs* I nearly started crying while writing this... What have I done? WHAT HAVE I DONE?


	7. Hot Chocolate Talks

**A/N: Well, Sophie Starlight gave me a prompt, but not two characters. So I picked two that I've been wanting to write about for awhile. Idk what all of the stuff at the beginning if this is... But basically this prompt is pointless fluff, pointless backstories, and pointless conversations. But it's kinda cute and I like it... In my humble opinion, hot chocolate is the best kind of chocolate!**

 **Chapter 7: Hot Chocolate Talks**

 **Prompt** : Chocolate

 **Rating** : K

 **Suggested by:** Sophie Starlight

Adrien just couldn't do this anymore. Or at least, that's what he told himself every night. Then he would patrol with Ladybug, and his spirits would be lifted. So he would go home and sleep, and wake up the next morning with _just_ enough patience to survive another day in the life of Adrien Agreste.

But today, he'd had it! He was used to his father completely ignoring him. He was used to going through life with no parental love, no parental wisdom, and no parental acknowledgement. So when his father had asked him to come down to his office, half of him was excited and half of him was terrified. Would his father actually acknowledge his existence? Give him credit for everything he'd done? Maybe he just wanted to ask him about his day!

Of course, of course, it wouldn't have been true. His father had barely greeted him, before getting straight down to business. The short of it: He was now expected to learn German and English, take some business classes, and start attending the regular Agreste company business meetings. All of this was to groom him for his role as the heir to the company. As expected, this would all leave him virtually zero free time. Which, on the bright side, was not much less that he had before.

The main concern of his was the business meetings. They were often held late at night, and they would cut heavily into his patrol time. Ladybug was the only thing keeping him going at this point, and she didn't even know it... How would he feel telling her he would have to skip patrol as often as twice a month?

Now he sat in his room, his father's words burning in his brain.

" _We'll have to cut the lunch hour out of your school day. You can study language while eating lunch here at home._ "

" _More of your photoshoots will have to be during school hours_."

" _I expect you to pay full attention at the meetings, and take very neat, orderly notes, and of course be prompt and respectful. You need to be serious about all of this if you are going to take over the company_."

If you are _going_ to take over the company.

Not if you _want_ to take over the company.

It was a command, not a question. It was an assumption, not a request. He would take over the company one day. He knew that. Honestly, Adrien had never enjoyed being in the fashion industry. Some days, he hated it. Nothing really interested him. It wasn't his passion, It wasn't even a hobby. And yet he had accepted the fact that this was what he would do to perfection till the day he died.

This was one of those nights where Adrien questioned his decision to stay his father's loyal puppet. Not that there was anything he could do about it until he turned eighteen. Plagg flew over, a piece of cheese in his hand. He knew Adrien was having a mental battle.

"Hey kit," he greeted shortly. Adrien looked up. The friendship between the boy and the kwami had grown tremendously over time, to the point where Plagg was more giving of his compassion and Adrien was more accepting of Plagg's antics. Plagg even called Adrien 'kit'. It had started when Plagg repeatedly called him 'kid' but later referred to Adrien as his 'kitten'. The nickname made Adrien feel really special, and Plagg knew that.

"What if I realize one day that I shouldn't have chosen to do this forever?" Adrien asked softly. "And what if I can't get out of it then? What if it's too late?"

"You think too much," Plagg mumbled. "Go get some air!"

"Really?" Adrien asked disbelievingly. Plagg never offered Adrien a transformation. Plagg shrugged.

"Well, seeing as you won't be able to do it as often soon... But you owe me a lot of cheese!"

"Plagg, claws out!"

Chat ran. He ran as fast as he could in any random direction, taking turns, cutting corners, and dashing through shortcuts. He leapt over anything in his way, reveling in the power coursing through his veins. The wind messed up his hair and gave it that wild, crazy look.

Eventually, Chat Noir skidded to a halt and took in his surroundings, confident that he could find exactly where he was. Confused as to what street he was on, Chat climbed to the top of a tall building and looked around in all directions. Nothing looked even the slightest bit familiar.

Trying not to panic, Chat hopped a few rooves over, glancing at shop names, streets signs, landmarks. Searching for anything that would soothe the rising panic in his chest. Nothing. He was completely and utterly lost. Slumping down against a wall, finally realizing how tired he was, Chat let himself freak out.

" _What do I do? I left my phone at home, stores that would have phones I could borrow, or maps or something are all closed... Who would I even call, anyway?_ " He considered calling Ladybug, but it was very late at night and she would probably kill him. Especially when she found out he was lost because he went on a joy ride with his powers...

He buried his face in his knees, deciding to let himself rest for a few minutes and then figure out his way home. He was so out of it he didn't hear the footsteps. He didn't hear the large man approaching, coming closer and closer, reaching out a hand until...

A large hand clamped down on his shoulder. "Chat Noir?"

Chat yelped and shot backwards, slamming his head against the wall accidentally. He immediately felt dizzy, but the intruder rushed forward and let Chat lean on him.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to startle you!" The man apologized profusely. "Are you okay? What are you doing on this side of town? You and Ladybug are rarely seen around here."

"I'm fine," Chat answered, even though he could feel the oncoming headache. He looked up to see the man's face. Startled, he realized that it was Tom Dupain-Cheng, Marinette's father. He had only seen the man once, as Adrien, but he would never forget him... This man had offered him cookies, so he was a friend for life! "I was on patrol when I got a little bit... lost," he admitted.

"I'm Tom. Tom Dupain-Cheng," the man said, introducing himself. "I was visiting an old friend and we lost track of the time. I'd be happy to direct you wherever you need to go. I know the streets of Paris quite well."

"I've heard of your bakery, and if you could show me the way back to it, I should be able to find my way home," Chat said. "And I can watch your back while you walk through the streets late at night. Not that you would need protection. You're pretty... intimidating."

Tom roared with laughter. It was a warm, friendly laughter that made Adrien's heart ache. He had never heard his father laugh before... "Come with me, m'boy! And I must say, the lack of cat puns is surprising. My daughter, Marinette, had the fortune of working with you during an akuma attack and she said you dropped them left and right! I'm a fellow pun enthusiast, you see."

Chat's face lit up. Here was someone who would appreciate his puns! "I a-paw-logize," he said, grinning. "I'll have to work double time to make up for it!"

They began to walk along the streets of Paris. A baker and a cat superhero. A man and a boy. A father and a son, though someone else's father and someone else's son. But they enjoyed each other's company more than expected. Especially when they stopped exchanging puns and old jokes and got a little more personal.

"So, why were you out late at night anyway? You look like you're school aged. You shouldn't be up so late at night," Tom advised. Chat tensed a bit, which did not go unnoticed.

"I had a lot on my mind... " Chat admitted. Tom nodded.

"Care to share? I find that when I talk about things, they don't put as much stress on me."

"I just..." Chat paused. "Did you always know you were going to be a baker? Did you inherit it from your family, or did you start it by yourself?"

"Well that is a long story," Tom replied, scratching his chin. "My parents wanted me to be a lawyer, just like my father. It payed well, and I was a bright lad. But all my life I loved to bake. It grew to the point where the kitchen was off-limits for me. They didn't want me to follow my dreams. It wasn't like that though, they just wanted what was best for me. And starting your own business is very risky..."

"So, how did you get out of doing what they wanted?" Chat asked. Suddenly, he noticed that they were standing in front of the bakery. Tom opened the door and waved for Chat to follow him in. Chat, feeling slightly amazed that this man was just welcoming him in so they could talk this late at night (seriously, it was around 1:00am by now), but followed him inside.

Tom flipped on the lights. "Hot chocolate?" he offered. Chat nodded and Tom made up two steaming cups of the liquid gold. He tossed Chat an entire bag of mini marshmallows. "Put as many of them in there as you want."

After doctoring his own hot chocolate, Tom sat opposite Chat Noir. "Anyway, we had a long talk just before I had to start filling out my college application. It was more of a fight, really. Things were said at the time that I regret now. Eventually, I ended up taking culinary classes, where I met my lovely wife, Sabine."

"How long did it take you to realize you liked each other?" Chat asked, suddenly realizing he could grab some girl advice from someone who wasn't Plagg or Nino (aka the two most unhelpful people when it came to that topic).

"Quite a while, actually. We started out as rivals, baking against each other in mini competitions. Then we became friends through friends, and eventually we started dating. She had the same dream as I did. Settle down, start a small business, raise some kids. It took three years of dating for me to propose. A few years after that we started the Dupain-Cheng bakery."

"Wow," Chat commented, sipping his hot chocolate. "That must have been something..."

"Some of the best memories," Tom sighed. "And I'm still making more. My baby girl is growing up. She likes baking, but fashion is her true talent. So I'm letting her follow her dream. I would never force her to take over the bakery if she didn't want to."

The old grandfather clock gonged solemnly behind them, startling them. "Oh my," Tom commented. "Two in the morning! And tomorrow is a work day!"

"I better head home," Chat said sadly, pushing back his chair and handing his empty hot chocolate mug to Tom. "That hot chocolate was delicious, by the way." Tom beamed.

He walked Chat to the door. "Get home safely, Noir. And don't ever hesitate to come back! My wife would love to properly meet you, and my daughter would love to see you again!"

"Thanks sir! I'll see if I can come back!" He waved and bounded off across the rooftops. Stopping to remember how delicious the hot chocolate was, Chat Noir smiled. " _I'll definitely be back!_ "

The next morning, Marinette grabbed a croissant and made herself a cup of hot chocolate for breakfast. She checked the cupboard, and then the pantry, and then the refrigerator. Finally, she began to grow desperate.

"Papa!" she called. "Do you know where my mini marshmallow stash went?"

"Ah, about that," her father said, ringing his hands on his apron. "I kind of... gave them to a stray?"

"PAPA!"

 **A/N: You know, when I started writing these I thought to myself, "Most of these will be in Marinette's POV. I would never be able to write Adrien's very well because he's a guy and stuff..." Well, turns out a majority of these are in Adrien's POV, because he's my little cinnamon roll cat son and I love him ;)**

 **Anyway, we'll have some Marinette POV in the next one, as well as some MariChat! Whoop Whoop!**

 **Also, the prompt suggestions will no longer be taken after June 30! So you have *checks calendar* 3 days left to dump a bunch on me! And by the way, I've decided that if you've already suggested a prompt, you may suggest another one (regardless of whether or not I've written the first one yet). The limit is two though... ;)**

 **Thanks for reading and reviewing! Have a great day!**


	8. You'll Never Be Alone

**A/N: Another prompt without the people. So of course I decided to make it MariChat. Okay, to be totally honest, Sayuri has been begging me to do something with this plot bunny for a long time, so I had to give in. MariChat friendliness/comfort is literally my life.**

 **Chapter 8: You'll Never Be Alone**

 **Prompt** : Sugar

 **Rated** : K

 **Suggested by** : MysNis120

Marinette had stayed up late again. She was working on a new project of hers, something that she had been designing for months. She was taking her sweet time making sure that every stitch was perfect, because this dress was the big one. This dress would be the one that she would enter in the yearly Agreste Fashion Competition For Young Talent.

She had been absentmindedly sewing, so she hadn't really noticed when it had started to rain. It rained often in Paris. Not too much, not too little. It helped the potted plants and park trees to grow, and it was often refreshing. Marinette enjoyed the rain (and she loved it more than ever because it was an excuse to use Adrien's umbrella).

When the thunder began to rumble in the distance, she noticed it, but it didn't concern her. A thunderstorm here and there was natural. She had gotten over her childish fear of thunder years ago. She continued stitching the hem, adding sequins in just the right places. It was around 1:00am.

Only when the thunder boomed so loudly that the house shook and the lights flickered did Marinette look up from her sewing. " _Good grief, it's really late!_ " she thought, looking at the clock. 3:00am. " _I'd better go to bed..._ "

Tikki had long since fallen asleep, so Marinette packed up all of her sewing supplies and fabric carefully. The thunder continued to bang and crash outside. The lights kept flickering. Finally, Marinette climbed into her bed, turned her light off, and pulled the covers over her head.

" _It's just a storm_ ," she thought to herself, trying to gain comfort. Lightning flashed and lit up her room. " _There's nothing scary about it. It's a part of nature._ "

She tried to sleep for another half hour in vain. Nothing really helped. Every time she got comfortable, a new flash of lightning would penetrate her eyelids and make her stir. Every time she was about to doze off, a crash of thunder would jolt her awake.

Tap! Tap tap tap! Tap! Tap tap!

She heard the noise in the background of the thunder and growled. What could that be? The pounding rain? It was raining all right, she could hear it pouring down on her roof. But rain didn't really make that sound. A crack of thunder made her shiver.

TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP!

The sound became even more obnoxious until suddenly Marinette yanked herself out of her half-asleep daze and realized what it was. She threw her blankets off and raced for the trap door, hurriedly unlocking it and yanking the soaking wet boy through.

"Chat Noir! WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING?" Marinette whisper-yelled at him. He was soaking wet. His blonde hair was plastered against his face and the raindrops rolling off of his suit left a puddle on her floor. He was shaking violently, teeth chattering.

"S-sorry, P-P-Princess," Chat chattered. Marinette huffed.

"Stay here!" she ordered, before going to find towels. She came back with a handful and all but threw them at Chat Noir. He dried off his suit and then toweled his hair, being careful to avoid his cat ears. "Why would you come over this early? In the rain? You know the rain makes you sick, kitty."

"I won't g-get sick..." Chat insisted. Marinette shook her head.

"You say that every time! Why are you here? Chat... Chat are you okay?"

He looked up, and she could see the unsettling look in his eyes. It was off. His ears were pressed flat against his head, and he was all weary looking and droopy, like he could barely stay standing. Another crash of thunder gave her the answer to her question. Chat yelped, barreling into her and burying his head in her shoulder.

A flash of lightning lit up the room and Chat tensed up, clinging to Marinette. He let out a soft whimper. "Chat, are you afraid of thunder?" Marinette asked gently.

"Maybe," Chat admitted. "Just a little..."

A loud boom made Chat hug her for all he was worth, squeezing her tightly. He was shaking and were those tears in his eyes?

"Maybe a lot," he whimpered.

"Oh Chat," Marinette said soothingly. She led him over to her bed, sitting down and pulling him down next to her. She cradled his head in her lap, running her fingers through his blonde hair. He relaxed a bit, but was sent into another bout of terror by the next flash-of-lightning-big-thunder-noise routine.

"Chaton, there's nothing to be afraid of. The thunder's not going to hurt you," she said softly. She couldn't stand to see her best friend break down like this, especially over something completely natural. He smiled weakly, but the tears were still there, still clouding up his bright green eyes, which were lit with panic.

"I know. I don't understand why I'm so afraid... It was like this before I became Chat Noir. I can't even blame it on the cat instincts."

Marinette suddenly realized something. "Chat, isn't this the kind of thing you would go to your parents about?"

"Not my parents," he answered softly. There was silence, and then the thunder boomed and he buried himself in her lap, his tail wrapping around himself. He was still shaking.

"What do you do during thunderstorms, then?" Marinette asked. "There have been quite a few, recently. You never came over here..."

Chat shrugged slightly. "I would stay huddled under my bed, wrapped in a blanket with the lights on. Plagg was there for me too... I don't know what was different about tonight. I couldn't do it anymore... I couldn't be alone."

There was more silence. Finally, Marinette broke it.

"You should be able to go to your parents about stuff like this, Chat! They're there to help you, and guide you, and comfort you! That's what parents do!" she said. His green eyes filled with even more tears, until a few started running down his cheek.

"I don't have a mother," he confided. "And my dad... He's very strict. We have more of a professional type relationship."

"Brothers? Sisters? A grandmother? Second cousin twice removed?"

"No, he's my only living relative."

More silence. Another boom of thunder and a squeak from Chat Noir.

"That's not fair!" Marinette said suddenly. She looked down at the shaking boy wrapped around her. She pulled him in closer. "You don't have anybody?"

"Nobody but you... I mean-I don't want to bother you, Marinette. It's late, I can go home. I'll be fine, really!I can get through it, I always d-Eeak!" He was cut off as the thunder shook the house. The lights flickered. His breathing got faster and more rushed.

"No way!" Marinette said. "No WAY am I letting you go home! You have me now, you silly cat! I'll always be here for you! And don't you _dare_ hesitate to ask for _anything_!" She tilted his chin up so that he was forced to stare into her eyes. "You got that?" Chat nodded meakly.

"Good, now let's go!" She pulled him to his feet.

"Let's go where?" Chat asked. A loud crack and he sidled against her, his tail wrapping around her waist to keep her close.

"Down to the bakery. We're going to find the most delicious, sugary treats and then we're going to stay up all night and watch movies!" She guided him downstairs and let him pick out whatever he wanted (she could make more than enough to compensate tomorrow). Then they took their platters full of goodies upstairs and Marinette pushed Chat down on the ground in front of her laptop.

She dashed across the room (before more thunder could come without her right there by his side) and grabbed all of the pillows and blankets in her room, throwing them at Chat. By the time she was done, they had a sizable nest. She clambered into it and snuggled down next to him. He curled up by her side, keeping his head in her lap for her to pet.

Marinette hit play on the first movie, while biting into a croissant. Chat munched away on cookies, drinking rich hot chocolate in between each one. Loud music announced the opening. " _A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..._ "

Gradually, the thunder got more distant. Neither of them noticed. They laughed at the movies, exchanged facts and favorite characters and moments, and generally got crazier and crazier as the sugar got to them. They giggled and cried and criticized together, and all while downing at least three plates worth of sweets. Neither of them could tell you when the sugar rush finally caught up to them and they fell asleep.

When Marinette opened her eyes, daylight was streaming through the window. Blankets and pillows were strewn across the room, and popcorn and cookie crumbs lay everywhere. She blinked sleepily, trying to remember what happened...

Oh yeah, the purring boy in her arms. She looked down at the sleeping kitty. He was so warm that she didn't want to move, and he looked so peaceful. " _I can't wake up a sleeping kitten!_ " Marinette reasoned. " _That's just cruel! It's against the code of life!_ "

He stirred a bit before opening his eyes. Blinking sleepily, he looked around. "Princess?"

"Right here, kitty," she answered, bopping him on the nose. "You're kinda pinning me down, I can't get up."

"Sorry," he apologized quickly. He shuffled off of her, freeing her from her cozy prison. "I should go."

"You're always welcome to come back!" she said. He blinked. "Seriously, come back. Any time," she offered. A slow smile stretched across his face.

"Thanks Princess!" And he tackled her in a hug. "Cat-cha later!" he called as he disappeared through the trap door. Marinette sighed and put her hands on her hips, looking at the disaster zone that was her room. Of course the cat ran off before he could be roped into helping her clean it...

Two weeks later, Marinette was reading a book for History. The thunder began to rumble, and this time she noticed it immediately. She got up and unlocked her trap door before sitting back down and losing herself in the book.

Approximately fifteen minutes later, there was a tap on the trapdoor. "Come on in, it's open!" she called. Chat dropped down into her room.

"I brought some movies this time," he said, tossing them to her. She held them up for inspection.

"The Aristocats, The Lion King... YES! These are all Disney classics!" She hugged them to her chest. "We'll go find our sugar later! When my parents are asleep..."

The first loud boom of thunder sent him across the room instantly, curled up in her side. She laughed and pulled him in close. "It's okay, kitty. You'll never be alone during a thunderstorm again. I promise!"

"Thank you Princess."

"Any time, Minou."

 **A/N: Lol I LITERALLY finished typing this when I got a similar prompt, which means I'll get to do more of this later when I write that one! YAS! Anyway, it's super late at night so I'm going to go to sleep! Thanks for reading and reviewing! Have a great day!**


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